About

I am a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, located at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE) on Blackford Hill. I work on quasars, observational cosmology, and big, big sky surveys : I am the PI of the UKIRT Infrared Sky Survey (UKIDSS). I am also the leader of a project called AstroGrid, which is part of an international inititiative to create a global Virtual Observatory.

You can see my home page at the ROE – it has an overview of research and some copies of my popular talks.

In the last few years I completed a five year stint as Head of the School of Physics, followed by a sabbatical year at KIPAC, which is an institute shared between SLAC and Stanford University. Now normal life has returned. Whatever that is.

Last but not least I have four kids and much less hair than I used to. I don’t think these facts are connected, except through the usual linked variable, time.

My current header picture is a slice from an infrared iamge of the Orion Nebula, taken with the UKIRT Wide Field Camera, the same beast we use for UKIDSS. Last year the banner picture was a view of Stanford, and before that it was a panoramic view of Edinburgh. I miss these, but you can’t have everything.